Banana Bread

Banana Bread

I would believe it is one of the favorite breads consumed by all and besides who doesn't like banana bread? But as they say there has to be someone in the crowd that has distaste for the bread but I am not one of them and hopefully you are not either.

This recipe is made in an electric pressure cooker (PC) and takes 35 minutes to cook. Why does it take so long to cook? Let me explain why it takes so long to produce the bread. My first attempt was pouring the batter in the bottom of the cooking vessel, removing the weight from the lid and than setting the timer on the PC for 6 minutes than after the amount of time has passed the PC will automatically go to warm mode where it stayed for an additional 20 minutes to complete cooking/baking. Well this did and didn't work to well, first off the bottom of the bread burnt and the bread was heavy.

My second try utilized a silicone mat and a small pot that fits inside the PC with some room to spare and placed on top of the silicone mat. This version worked out great but like all good things Murphy’s Law reared his ugly head. The try yielded a nice golden brown, round moist loaf of banana bread, what I did not expect was for the silicone to melt! It didn't melt and form some kind of rubber like mess on the bottom of the PC but the aroma that issued from the PC let me know what was happening luckily the bread did not take on the taste. I made several loaves of bread in this fashion until the silicone mate was rendered useless. This method took 20 minutes to cook and another 10 - 15 minutes on warm to complete cooking.

My last and final version for banana bread utilized a squat stainless steel (or equivalent) plate that lifted my cooking pot above the bottom of the PC by about one-inch or less in height. Using the metal plate on the bottom transferred enough heat to brown the bread nicely but the cooking time of 35 minutes along with an additional 10 minutes of warming for a total of 45 minutes to produce a nice round loaf of bread.

Below the instructions include the time and temperature required for the more contemporary method. Also I was told that the taste of the bread I had made require more banana flavor so I increased the number of bananas by one and I will have to admit the bread tasted great.


Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
4 ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter.

3. Beat the egg and milk slightly than mix into the creamed mixture above with the bananas.

4. Combine the sifted ingredients and creamed ingredients until just combined.

5. Spread batter into one greased and floured 9x5 inch loaf pan.

6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until top is brown and cracks along the top.